AZ Supremes vs. 9th Circuit on tax credits

by David Safier It's something of a standoff. On the one hand, The state's high court on Tuesday upheld a 3-year-old law that lets corporations divert some of their state income taxes to help students attend private and parochial schools. Without comment, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected arguments by the Arizona Education Association and other … Read more

AG looking into Student Tuition Organizations

by David Safier Michelle Reese at the East Valley Trib continues to be on top of the tuition tax credit/STO story. The latest: The Arizona attorney general has sent letters to 19 of the state’s nonprofit school tuition organizations asking them to explain why they didn’t spend 90 percent of donations on scholarships for private … Read more

“Exodus from public schools as a strategic goal”

by David Safier Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist, usually very conservative, though I haven't read him enough to put him in a specific category. He has a column in today's Washington Times titled Liberation from liberalism: Escaping government schools is key to reclaiming America. He makes his point loud and clear. Traditional public schools … Read more

Massive teacher layoffs?

by David Safier This from Tom Horne. Arizona faces the prospect of large-scale layoffs of school teachers next year due to the state's budget problems, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said Monday. He said the ‘‘massive layoffs'' of teachers are possible even though school districts' actual job cuts for the current school year … Read more

Significant changes in laws about teacher hiring

by David Safier This one got past me in the heat of the state budget problems. According to Pat Kossan at the Republic, significant changes have been made to rules about teacher contracts and firings. Republicans hated the idea that teachers had to be given pink slips by May 15 if the district couldn't guarantee … Read more